DVB Sound Presentation v1 Notes

8/6/2019 DVB Sound Presentation v1 Notes

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Documentary Video Boot Camp | January 12-16, 2009 | MassArt Professional and Continuing Education

Sound Presentation Notesv.1David Tams

is document consists of notes to accompany the Documentary Video Boot Camp: Sound Recordingpresentation (available for download at: kino-eye.com/docs/dvb/DVB-Sound-Presentation-v1.pdf).Underlined text indicates web links1. Please direct comments, suggestions, and corrections (relating to the

presentation or these notes) to the author via the web form at Kino-Eye.com/contact/ or call 617.216.1096

1. Title Slide

2. Overview

Sound is half the picture, yet most often it receivesonly casual attention by video makers. Viewers cantarticulate whats wrong, but quite often its thesound that either engages or distances them. ispresentation presents practical techniques and a

guide to the tools for recording and editing soundfor video that will improve your work whether youare a beginning or intermediate media maker. Realworld problems in a range of shooting situationsand their solutions will be presented. Discussiontopics include microphone selection and placement,recording strategies for noisy locations, improvingintelligibility of dialog, mixing in music withoutinterfering with dialog, making sure your videosounds good on a wide range of devices (includingiPods, laptops, and home theaters) and doing it allin a manner that flows nicely with video editing.Special attention will be paid to working on a tightbudget and getting the most out of modest gear.

3. Five Minutes Sound RecordingUniversity

In the spirit of Father Guido Sarducci (a fictionalcharacter made famous by American comedian DonNovello on Saturday Night Live) were going tostart out by attending Five Minute SoundRecording University.

4. Sound is half the pictureSound coveys emotion, picture coveys information.Consider the image of a woman swimming at thebeach. As far as the image is concerned, a quiet andpeaceful moment. Now add the two simple notes inJaws. Sound is half the picture. Sound carries theemotion of your video. Paying attention to sound,both in terms of good recording and how its mixed

and the use of sound effects and music, can make areal difference. Even if youre doing a simpleinterview with dialog only, good sound makes adifference in the richness of the intervieweesdialogue, not just the intelligibility of the dialogue.You will find a collection of essays by sounddesigner Randyom at atwww.filmsound.org/randythom/ that I highly recommend reading.

5. People expect transparent sound

I was looking at videos on Vimeo recently and I wasamused by the comment on this post. No one everapologizes for slight imperfections in video, weoverlook them, but sound is different. Peter knewhe had to say something about the sound issues inthis piece, and reassure viewers that it would getfixed soon. Sound is that important. People expecttransparent (good) sound.

6. The trouble with most amateurrecordings

e problem with most amateur recordings isexcessive ambient noise and low dialog level,improve your sound with the right microphone andgood placement. Placement is critical for achievinggood sound. In most cases, closer is better butnot too close. e sound you are recording has to bethe loudest sound the microphone is picking up.More than three feet away from someone talking ina quiet room is probably too far away. More thantwo feet away from someone talking in a noisy

environment room is probably too far away. And ifthe environment is really noisy, you need themicrophone within a foot of the speakers mouth.Listen and experiment to get a feel for placement.

1 Poor typographic practice, but its the de facto indication of a link, what might be better? Cool little icons next to the text? maybe...
http://kino-eye.com/docs/dvb/DVB-Sound-Presentation-v1.pdfhttp://www.filmsound.org/randythom/http://www.filmsound.org/randythom/http://kino-eye.com/contact/http://www.filmsound.org/randythom/http://www.filmsound.org/randythom/http://www.filmsound.org/randythom/http://www.filmsound.org/randythom/http://kino-eye.com/contact/http://kino-eye.com/contact/http://kino-eye.com/docs/dvb/DVB-Sound-Presentation-v1.pdfhttp://kino-eye.com/docs/dvb/DVB-Sound-Presentation-v1.pdf


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7. It is critical to set levels and monitorthe sound you are recording

Its critical to set proper levels to avoid distortionand monitor audio so there are no surprises in post.is is especially true with digital recording whichcant recording anything beyond full scale (indicatedas 0 dBfs on most meters, with numbers that look

like -20, -12, -6, -3, 0. Peaks should not go over -6in most cases. -3 once in a while is OK. Hitting 0(which lights up a peak light in most gear) istrouble, it will sound terrible. Try it for your self.Most recorders have a LIMITER, a circuit that canautomatically soften peaks. Automatic Gain Controlcan be used in a pinch, but its not idea. Alwaysmonitor your audio with good headphones thatprovide sound isolation.

8. Shotgun myths

Shotgun mics dont reach farther, they dont worklike telephoto lenses, sound, unlike light, ispromiscuous, it travels in all directions and goesaround corners. Shotgun mics are useful in noisyenvironments, however, they are not magic, insteadof reaching farther they respond to off-axis sounddifferently (reduced level, coloration, and a nullpoint).ey might look impressive, but manyrecording situations call for other types ofmicrophones. Learn about the various microphonepick-up patterns and how they differ. More on thatin the expanded portion of this presentation.

9. Audio compression

Audio compression on dialog tracks can help itsound louder and cut through other sounds in themix, but dont overdo it. A little bit goes a long way.

10. Well fix it in post not.

Well fix it in post is a silly thing to say, if yourecord bad sound, it usually stays that way, its veryhard to fix sound. For example, there is no suchthing as a remove reverberation filter. Get it rightfrom the start.

11. Include sound gear in yourequipment purchases.

Spend as much or more on sound gear as you spendon your camera, good microphones and mixers willoutlast your camera.

12. Suggested reading

e following books provide a good, solidintroduction to the craft of professional soundrecording and post production for video:

Audio Bootcamp Field Guideby Ty Ford(second edition) is a delightfully concise non-nonsense introduction to professional sound

recording. Producing Great Sound for Digital Video by Jay

Rose (second edition) an excellentintroduction to audio for video with clear andeasy to understand explanations. Come with aset of sample files to listen to.

Audio Postproduction for Digital Video by JayRose provides more in-depth coverage of audiopostproduction than Producing Great Soundfor Digital Video, including extensive coverageof important topics like mixing, dialogueediting, and important audio processing

techniques like compression and equalization.Come with a set of sample files to listen to.

13. Online resources

e following web sites provide a good start interms of sound for video related resources on theweb:

DVinfo.net provides an excellent source oftechnical information on all aspects of videoproduction and editing, it was established byChris Hurd as a real-names, real-information video production discussion site,

so people participate in the community astheir real selves, on the site you will find abroad range of participants ranging fromserious newcomers asking interesting questionsto seasoned professionals sharing wisdom.

Kino-Eye.comis my own blog covering topicslike documentary filmmaking, mediatechnology, and more, check out the referencesection. Got a question youve not found agood answer for? Ask me and Ill probablyblog about it.

FilmSound.org is a site run by Sven Carlsson,

a media teacher, its an essential resource forlearning about film sound (applicable to videotoo)

14. Graduation

Congratulations, youve graduated from FiveMinute Sound Recording University, and now, justlike going to school, the most important aspect oflearning happens through experience. So I

Documentary Video Boot Camp: Sound Presentation Notes v.1 2 of 20
http://kino-eye.com/http://kino-eye.com/http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1578201160/ref=nosim/kinoeyecom-20http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1578201160/ref=nosim/kinoeyecom-20http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1578202086/ref=nosim/kinoeyecom-20http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1578202086/ref=nosim/kinoeyecom-20http://kino-eye.com/http://kino-eye.com/http://dvinfo.net/http://dvinfo.net/http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1578201160/ref=nosim/kinoeyecom-20http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1578201160/ref=nosim/kinoeyecom-20http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1578202086/ref=nosim/kinoeyecom-20http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1578202086/ref=nosim/kinoeyecom-20http://home.comcast.net/~tyreeford/AudioBootcamp.htmlhttp://home.comcast.net/~tyreeford/AudioBootcamp.html


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encourage you to take what you learn here andpractice. Record, listen, experiment, listen, etc. Trydifferent mic placements. Mess around with varioustypes of microphones if you can. Play with theaudio tools available in your non linear editingsystem. Try out Audacity if your non linear editingsystem tools are not working for you. Do some

reading, but balance reading and practice.ebooks by Jay Rose are good to read a section at atime, then, go out and try the techniques, listen,and reflect. 1. Read => 2. Experiment/Listen => 3.Reflect => 4. Go back to 1. Sound requires a lot ofcritical listening along the way.e Jay Rose bookscome with a nice set of sample files to listen to. Andnow well go into more details.

15. What is sound?

Sound is vibrations in air. A movement, like thoseof human vocal cords, creates waves in the air, muchlike a rock you throw in water creates waves/vibrations.ese waves go in all directions, bounceoffwalls, travel around corners, its very messy. Itsnot like camera and light. ere is no edge of theframe. Sound from all over mixes in with the soundyou want. When you playback the sound yourecorded, the reverse process takes place, the soundyou recorded, stored as a digital representation(created through sampling) is converted back to ananalog signal which is amplified and in turn causesthe vibration of the speaker diaphragm, which

creates sound waves in the air.

ese are neverexactly like the original, theres always somethingthat changes in the process. eres always noise anddistortion added along the way. We try to minimizethat using good techniques and good gear.

16. Audio recording signal chain

Recording: something moves in such a manner tocreate vibrations in air, and thus you have a sound=> vibrating diaphragm in microphone converted toan electrical signal => conversion of the electricalsignal to a digital representation (sampling,

digitization) => storage onto a digital storagemedium.

Playback: retrieval from a digital storage medium=> conversion to an analog signal => amplificationof the analog signal => moving diaphragm speaker=> vibrations in air => in turn cause ear drum tovibrate => vibrations translated as signals to thebrain => perception of sound. We need not go deepinto the physics to appreciate this. It is important to

understand the essence of sound, think of sound asone of the mediums you work with, you shape andmold it to create your work. It is a medium just aspaint is a medium.

17. Dynamic and Condenser are twocommon microphone technologies

Dynamic Microphones: Sound pressure levels movediaphragm connected to a moving coil, themovement of the coil within a magnetic fieldtranslates the sound into a voltage, no additionalcircuitry required. Physics: movement of a coilwithin a magnetic field causes electricity. is is theinverse of a moving coil and magnet in a speakermoving the cone of the speaker when an electricalsignal is applied.

Advantages:

Inexpensive when compared to as condenser

microphones More rugged that as condenser microphones

Disadvantages:

Not as sensitive nor as accurate as condensermicrophones

Typically limited to close-proximity vocalrecording applications, for example reportersmicrophones and vocalist microphones aretypically dynamic in design, though there aresome condenser reporters microphonesavailable

Condenser Microphones: Sound pressure levelsmove a diaphragm, this is translated intocapacitance (the diaphragm is between chargedplates) electronic circuitry and a power supply arerequired, often powered by phantom power, this ispower that a mixer or camera provides to the micover the same wires the signal.

Advantages:

Typically more sensitive and more accuratethat dynamic microphones

Disadvantages:

More expensive than dynamic microphones More sensitive to extreme environmental

conditions

e electret condenser is a less expensive variationon the condenser microphone, which uses apermanently charged plate. Fancy pro microphonesoften costing over $1,000 are true condenserswhile less expensive microphones costing well under$1,000 are electret condenser, the major difference



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is the amount of noise the mic produces, truecondensers are quieter which is critical for motionpicture audio recording and recording for the newera of HD and Dolby 5.1 home audio systems. Butfor documentary work, dont sweat it, a good, basicelectret condenser is a reliable workhorse and willserve you well.

18. Thee common types of microphones

ere are three microphones types typically used indocumentary video production:

Handheld (typically dynamic): good for use inhigh-noise environments when closeplacement is possible, typically omni (e.g.Electro-Voice RE50) or cardioid (e.g.Sennheiser MD46)

Lavalier (practically always condenser): goodfor use on the subject, interviews in relativelyquiet environments, typically omnidirectionalin terms of pickup pattern (cardioid available,but placement much tricker, only forspecialized uses)

Shotgun (practically always condenser): acompromise when you cant get close to thesubject, placement very critical, offaxis soundsare muted and colored, available in variouspatterns, short shotgun, and long-shotgunpatterns, a cardioid or hyper-cardioid istypically better than a shotgun for dialogue,but they do need to be placed closer, a shotguncan work a little farther away, but with all the

problems that come with them of morecoloration of off-axis sounds, more criticalplacement, and the lobar pick-up pattern.

Additional types used in video production includeboundary PZM microphones designed to beplaced on flat surfaces and head worn microphonesused by performers.

19. Microphone pickup patterns

Super-Cardioid and Shogun Microphones:Generally not as flat as omnidirectionalmicrophones, off-axis sound has distinctivecoloration. Have varying degrees of directionality,varies based on frequency of source. Good forrecording: where it is desirable to focus on a specificsound source; where isolation from unwantedsounds or noise is needed; when a a greater workingdistance is required.

Omnidirectional and Cardioid: Generally flatterthan directional microphones; Works well in close

proximity; Good for recording: hand-held stand upinterview, dialogue in controlled environments,ambient sound, music sources. Not very good inhigh ambient noise areas.

Not pictured: Bidirectional (Figure-eight) front andback, no sides, used as Side Channel in an MSmicrophone design

20. Pick-up patterns and frequencyresponse charts and discussion of dB

Pickup Pattern: Response in dB depending on positionof source relative to the mic, response also depends on

frequency, this multiple lines w/ different hatching

Frequency response diagram: Response in dBrelative to frequency of source, the flatter theresponse the more accurate the microphone

The decibel (dB) is a logarithmic unit ofmeasurement that expresses the magnitude of a

acoustic energy relative to a specified reference level.It expresses a ratio of two quantities. e decibel isused for measurements in acoustics and electronics,a logarithmic scaling that corresponds to the humanperception of sound and the ability to carry outmultiplication of ratios by simple addition andsubtraction.e full name decibel follows the usualEnglish capitalization rules for a common noun.e definition of the decibel use base-10logarithms.

Example: A 6dB change is perceived as a doubling

of sound level, thus a sound that measures 56dBwould be perceived as twice as loud as one thatmeasures 50dB.

e decibel is commonly used in acoustics toquantify sound levels relative to some 0 dBreference.e reference level is typically set at thethreshold of perception of an average human andthere are common comparisons used to illustratedifferent levels of sound pressure.

A reason for using the decibel is that the ear iscapable of detecting a very large range of soundlevels. Because the power in a sound wave isproportional to the square of the pressure, the ratioof the maximum power to the minimum power isabove a trillion. To deal with such a wide, unwieldyrage, range, logarithmic units are used. For example,the log of a trillion is 12, so this ratio represents adifference of 120 dB. (derived from fromWikipedia).



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So bottom line: Its easier to work with numbers ina range of 0 to 120 that a trillion, just rememberthat each plus 6dB change is perceived as twice asloud, each minus 6dB change is perceived as half asloud. So when looking at the polar chart, you cansee how the audio level falls off in terms of relativedB.

21. Microphone placement is critical

Remember, sound travels in all directions, itbounces off things, and it goes around corners.Unlike shooting video, sound is messy. Light is wellbehaved, it (for the most part) travels in straightlines. Sound is much more promiscuous, it goeseverywhere.

You are always recording three things, 1. directsound, 2. reflected sounds, and 3. backgroundnoise. You want to maximize 1 while reducing 2

and 3 as much as possible. Move away fromreflective surfaces, get the mic as close in as possible(but not too too close, theres the proximity effect,bass exaggeration when sources are very close, thatworks well for radio announcers but is not alwayswhat you want for dialog recording). ere are alsoissues with breath pops (wind screens help withthat).

Not only does sound radiate in all directions, it alsofalls offso the intensity falls offquickly the fartheryou are from the source, or from a physicsperspective, sound radiation follows the Inverse

Square Law, which is a fancy way of saying thatsound intensity from a point source of sound dropsof at a rate proportional to the square of thedistance. Or simpler yet, double the distance fromthe source, you get one fourth of the intensity.

22. Placement options for recordinginterviews

Desirability of microphone placement positions forrecording a speakers dialog in order from best toleast preferable:

1. Directional microphone on boom from aboveisideal and provides perspective and the least roomnoise. Get as close as you can (staying out of frame)with a hyper-cardioid or short-shotgun for a littlemore source to mic distance, but the ideal is thehyper, theres a reason why the Schoeps CMC 641 isthe gold standard among film sound recordists and it was

not until recently that Schoeps finally decided to make s

shotgun mic to meet market demand, which does

provide better performance with greater subject to mic

distances, but with compromises. Hyper cardioids have

less off-axis coloration than short shotguns, so when you

can get closer in, they offer superior sound quality.

2. Directional microphone on boom from belowcompromises perspective and picks up more noisefrom footsteps, etc. and reflections offfloor, but it

works. In run and gun situations I use a short-shotgun on a pistol-grip hand held just offcamera,which is faster to work with that a lavalier on thesubject, but it would be better with a boom, whichin one person shoots is impossible. So theres thenext option...

3. Omnidirectional lavalier on the subject is a goodthird option, works well with wireless for fordocumentary especially with moving subjects,noise/environment perspective is tricky as subjectsmove, but we do the best we can with moving

subjects.4. Hand-held microphone gets the mic close to thesource, good for noisy environments, but is visibleso widely used for news reporting, but rarely indocumentary and never in narrative, unless thesubject is playing the character of a news reporter.On-camera microphone is often a necessarycompromise, but rarely produces good soundunless very close to the subject. Reportermicrophones are typically omnidirectional (I use therugged and popular Electro-Voice RE50) for variousreasons, primarily because omnidirectional mics are

less prone to problems when the mic moves slightlyoffaxis, however, if the people using themicrophone can keep it pointed properly and youare in a noisy environment, a cardioid hand-heldmicrophone might be better than anomnidirectional in terms of better signal (voice) tonoise ratio.

24. Placing and dressing lavaliermicrophones

Attach clip-on lavs to center chest opening of shirt

or blouse or to a necktie or attach to lapel of jacket,make sure to attach to the side most likely thatspeaker will turn. Bring cable up and through thehinge of the clip and then loop back down thru thejaws of the clip in order to dampen noise from cablemovement, tape cable behind clothes with gaffertape if needed. In documentary, worry more aboutgetting good sound than hiding the microphone.Use a fur wind screen (e.g. Rycote LavalierWindjammer) in windy conditions. e fur needs



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the space provided by the foam windscreen to workproperly.

25. Recording a formal interview

When I shoot formal sit-down interviews, I like torecord with both a lavalier and a short shotgun onmy Rycote Pistol Grip which I mount on a

microphone stand (available from music stores, seenext page for a picture). You have two channels, souse them both. Lav sound is often rich, but rustle ornoise from the cable is sometimes an issue, theboom mic is a solid reliable option. In post you candecide whether the lav or overheard mic is best.Sometimes I mix in a little lav w/ the shotgun tomake a thin voice fuller.

26. Holding a mic during a formalinterview

A Tripod style microphone stand (e.g. DR TripodMic Stand, there are others) offers a good way tosupport a boom mic for a sit down interview.Attach a mic support on the end, will require anadapter, since boom poles and mic supportsdesigned for boom poles use one thread andstandard mic stands use a different thread. Adaptersexist, and some mic supports come with them. Getan extra one or two and keep in your kit, they havea tendency to disappear. For a stand-up interview, alarger C-Stand might be required. I use the RycotePistol Grip w/ my shotgun for it is very versatile, I

can connect it to a boom pole, use hand-held, orconnect to mic stand w/ an adapter. e Boom Boyis cool for attaching boom to a Grip Head which inturn is connected to a C-Stand or light stand.Make sure you have any adapters you might need(and always have an extra one in your kit for theygo missing. Standard mic stands have a 5/8-27thread tip. Boom poles have 3/8 Whitworth tips.An adapter that allows you to connect accessoriesdesigned to thread on to a 3/8 Whitworth tip (e.g.Rycote Pistol Grip) to a 5/8-27 thread tip onstandard microphone stands and accessories.

27. Elements of a good sound kit

Here are some key elements of a versatile sound kit.

Reporters microphone. Omnidirectional orcardioid. Typically dynamic, sometimes condenser. Ihave an Electro-Voice RE50, this is a broadcaststandard, rugged, versatile omnidirectional hand-held mic. e RE50 is shock mounted to reducehandling noise and has a built-in wind screen. For

really windy days, you might want to add anadditional foam windscreen. e Sennheiser MD46is a popular cardioid reporters microphone in wideuse.

Lavaliers (a.k.a. lav or lapel mic) are small (typicallyelectret condenser) microphones, most oftenattached with a small alligator clip for attaching to

shirt collars, ties, jacket lapel, or other clothing. ecable is typically hidden within clothes. It may runwired to a mixer or camera, or connect to a wirelesstransmitter, this is good when your subject is on themove or your shooting in a crowded situation wherethe wire would be a problem. Many lavs have a risein the frequency response curve around 6 to 8 kHzwhich compensates for the loss of clarity when chestmounted.e term lavalier originally referred to apendant worn around the neck, the original micsused in television broadcast were quite large, so theyhad to be hung from a chain like a pendant.Sennheiser, Audio Technica, Sony, Tram, andCountryman all make good lavalier microphones. Ihave a TRAM-50 lavalier, it was the first piece ofsound equipment I purchased and have been usingit for a long time, still very happy with it. Itintercuts quite nicely with high quality boommicrophones.

Shotgun microphone. I currently use anAudioTechnica BP4029 short shotgun microphone (seelater slide on MS stereo). I often rent a SennheiserMKH 50 (super cardoid) or Sennheiser MKH 60

(short shotgun) when theres budget for a soundupgrade, they offer excellent sound quality and are astep above under $700 condensers.

Quality microphone cables (e.g. Remote Audio orCanare). Microphone cables that use 4-conductorStar Quad configuration are popular amongprofessionals, they are less susceptible picking upnoise from power lines and other sources of electro-magnetic radiation. Star-Quad works because of itstwisted-pair configuration in which every conductoris located the same distance from the center, thusopposing electro-magnetic interference are cancelledout. Attenuation of electro-magnetic radiationmakes for a superior microphone cable. Many cablemakers throw all sorts of hype at you why theircable is better, but among professionals, Star-Quadis the only thing that makes a real difference.Monster Cable should be called Monster Rip-off iftruth in marketing was enforced.



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Other essentials: Good travel case, tools andaccessories (whatever adapters you might need, forexample, an adapter to connect boom-mountedaccessories on a mic stand). You will eventually wanta Field Mixer (see next slide).

28. Why use a field mixer?

Using a portable field mixer like the Sound Devices302 makes it easier to monitor and makeadjustments as necessary, the 302 has excellentmeters with a choice of ballistics, also an excellentlimiter, better than in most cameras, good preamps,again, better than in most cameras, and a monitorreturn (you can listen to individual channels, stereo,mono mix, or the return coming back from therecorder or camera). An interconnect cable (knownas an ENG Snake or ENG Video Camera to MixerCable) is available, its designed to connect themixer to most video cameras with a single cable. Itconsists of a pliable 3 channel triplex cable withdouble balanced audio lines with XLR connectorsand a third stereo line returns the headphone feedfrom the camera to the monitor input of the mixervia a mini plug. e interconnect has a multi-pinquick disconnect that permits you to break-awayfrom the camera from the mixer or connect thecamera to the mixer with a single plug or unplug.When using cameras that offer off-tape monitoring(e.g. Panasonic DVX100) you have confidenceyoure getting a good recording, however, theres a

time delay, which can be exhausting to listen to.

e302 allows you to switch between monitoring themixer out and the camera return so you can checkon the camera on occasion for confidence, butmonitor most of the time without a delay.

29. Some popular shotgun microphones

ere are many shotguns on the market in theunder $600 category. ese are not as quiet (interms of their inherent noise) and sweet sounding asprofessional microphones in the $1,400 to $1,800range, but these are solid performers offering good

value. Of course, if you want to spend more, thereare some amazing sounding microphones to choosefrom, this is only the tip of the iceberg.

eAudio Technica AT875R($200) is a veryeconomical short shotgun condenser with a lengthof seven inches making it ideal for mounting on asmall digital camera. While off-axis rejection mightnot be as good as the AT897, it performs as well aslonger shoguns due to its clever design. Operates

only on phantom power and does not have a bassroll-offcircuit. A good value at the low end of theprice scale.

eAudio Technica AT897 ($270) is a condensershotgun microphone with a length of eleven inchesproviding more directionality than the AT875. Canoperates on an internal AA battery or Phantom

power and has a bass roll-offswitch. Probably abetter choice for boom mounted use than the 875R.is is one of ATs most popular shotguns and forgood reason, it sounds good and compares well tomore expensive options.

eAudio Technica AT4073a($550) is a externallypolarized condenser shotgun microphone highlyregarded as an excellent performer with a reducedrear lobe and less offaxis sound coloration thanother shotguns. A step up from the AT897 but stillvery affordable. Switchable 150 Hz low-cut filter

and phantom powering.e Rode NTG-1($230) and Rode NTG-2($270)are affordable newcomers to the category. e twoare identical except the NTG-2 is longer due to theintegrated power module. e NTG-2 can bepowered with either an internal AA battery orphantom power. e shorter NTG-1 only workswith phantom power. ese mics do not have abass roll-offswitch. e NTG-1 and NTG-2 havebecome popular among cost-conscious mediamakers who want good performance on a tightbudget. Not quite as crisp and clean as the ME66,

but a very good value.

e Sennheiser ME66 with the K6 Power Module($399 for the combo) is a tried and true favoritebecause of its sound quality, craftsmanship, andversatility. e system is based around the K6power module which has a bass roll-offfilter, on-offswitch, and can work with either an internal AAbattery or phantom power. In addition to thepopular ME66 super-cardioid capsule, the K6 canbe paired with additional capsules: the moredirectional ME67 ($270), the cardioid ME64

($260), the omnidirectional ME62 ($150), or thesuper-cardioid ME65 ($230) with an integral popfilter for hand-held recording. A modular systemprovides a cost-effective alternative to buyingdiscrete microphones for each application.

Not pictured here but its good to know thefollowing exist:

Among my favorite shotgun microphones to rentwhen theres room in the budget for it is the



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Sennheiser MKH60 (it sells for $1,600), it has asmooth, relatively flat frequency response, a sweetsound, perfect for dialog. While the less expensiveME66 can be a tad harsh, the MKH60 offers asmoother, fuller sound, lower self-noise, works offphantom power, and has three switchable settings:low-frequency roll-off, treble emphasis, and pre-

attenuation (-10 dB).And then theres the gold standard: the SchoepsCMC641 set ($1,900) which includes theirCMC-6U pre-amp and the MK41 super-cardioidcapsule (a variety of capsules are available). Unlikelesser microphones, the MK41 is not colored byreflections arriving offaxis as is the problem withshotgun type (interference tube) microphones inindoor settings. is makes it a better alternative tothe shotgun microphone for recording dialogindoors.is set is one of the most popular andrespected microphones among professional soundrecordists and for good reason. It sounds great!

30. Versatile mounting and windprotection

e Rycote Softie is a popular and versatile rubbershock mount and synthetic fur windshield systemthat performs almost as well as a traditionalwindshield (zeppelin with windjammer) but is moreconvenient to use in run and gun situations (itsimply slips on and offthe mic) and is moreeconomical. Rycote also makes a variety of furry

Windjammers for lavaliers, hand-helds, andcamcorders.ere are other good makes available inthe market, but this is what I own and like.

32. Wireless microphones: freedom fromwires

ere are many makes and models on the market.In a range abovethe many inexpensive entry-levelwireless microphones but belowthe more expensiveprofessional standard (Lectrosonics) lies theSennheiser Evolution wireless microphones, whichare very popular among documentary filmmakers

for their excellent price/performance ratio.e Sennheiser Evolution 100 G2 is a completeUHF wireless system for $600 consisting of abodypack transmitter, an omnidirectional lavalier(with clip and windscreen), a plug-on transmitterthat can be attached to any metal-body low-impedance dynamic handheld microphone (like theElectro-Voice RE50 or Sennheiser MD46), and acamera-mountable receiver. e performance is

surprisingly good considering the price and isamong the best values in a camera mounted wirelesssystem. is is probably the best wireless mic forbudget-conscious documentary makers.

If your looking for the best performance and havethe budget for it, then consider the Digital Hybridwireless systems from Lectrosonics, who makes

some of the most widely used professional wirelesssystems. Other brands include: Nady (low end),Sony (mid-range), Audio-Technica (mid-range),and Zaxcom (high end).

32. Portable audio recording

Carrying a portable audio recording kit along withyour camera (or everywhere you go for that matter)opens up the possibility of recording double-systemsound as well as capturing sound whenever youhave the chance without being tethered to a camera.

While several high end pro recorders are available,the sub $600 collection of recorders from M-Audio,Marantz, Samson, etc. all do a very good job. eyare not as reliable as professional recorders, but weretaking thousands of dollars in terms of theirdifference in price.

In terms of high end professional audio recorders, Ilove the Sound Devices 722 ($2,500) two channelrecorder (timecode and four channel versions areavailable for more buckaroos), its beautifullydesigned and engineered, can record to hard driveand compact flash at the same time, but they are

much more expensive that the little guys, but surelymore reliable, it all comes down to a trade-offbetween technical requirements and budget. If youmake your living recording sound in the field, theSound Devices recorders are serious contenders,albeit more expensive and heavier than the otherportable recorders mentioned.

e Sony MDR-7506 headphones are theprofessional standard for field monitoring, offeringgood acoustic separation from outside sounds, aclean, flat frequency response and a slightly

exaggerated low-end response which makes it easyto pick up audio problems like low-frequencyrumbles (from air conditioning systems or passingtrucks), bumps of the boom, and more.

33. A super compact video interviewsetup

is is a super compact kit for shooting videointerviews that brings together quick and dirty



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point and shoot video aesthetics and pro qualityaudio aesthetics, it works very well together. If theaudio is good, the less than perfect video will workbetter. Sony MDR-7506 headphones (and a pair ofear-buds for super lean shoots); Giant Squid AudioLab Omni Mic, stereo pair (a nice pair ofmicrophones that can work with plug-in power

[consumer version of phantom power] which mostsmall recorders and consumer cameras with micinputs can provide); Electro-Voice RE50 (good foruse close-to-subject in high-noise environments);M-Audio M-Audio MicroTrack (the Roland R-09 isa good alternative and does not have a built-inLiIon battery, the Achilles heel of the MicroTrack,on the other hand the MicroTrack has a nice limitedand balanced line/mic TRS inputs with +48Vphantom power); Canon PowerShot TX1 still &720p video camera (cute, but does not maintainsynchronization, it drifts while shooting, so its a

pain in post as every minute or so I have to re-sync,good for quick and dirty, but a real video camerawill maintain sync while recording (i.e. run aconstant speed without variation so video can bematched with sound in post and sync up).

34. Double system sound recording

Tiny video cameras can shoot great video, but theaudio leaves something to be desired. Excellent,small audio recorders are now available (SamsonH2, Samson H4, Microtrack, etc.) which can be

used to record audio. When audio and picture arerecorded separately, its called Double SystemSound. Term comes from the old days of film,professional film cameras did not record sound, sosound was recorded separately, on film sets in theold days you always saw a NAGRA recorder in use,engineering wonders of the analog age, but Idigress. In post the audio and picture would besynched up. When you sync the audio to the videoclips, keep the original audio around in case youneed to fix slipped sync. Your NLE should allowyou to link video to audio tracks and keep the

original tracks (which you can mute) and edit themas a single linked clip. It works in Final Cut Pro,Ive not tried it in other editors. We can do the samewith digital video and digital audio. It workswonderfully in most cases, since audio recorders andDV cameras use pretty accurate crystals to controltheir speed. Some cameras drift, but for short takes(Ive shot as long as 25 minutes w/ a SonyHandicam w/ no Sync issues) it works well most of

the time. Experiment with your combination ofgear to see if it holds sync. Your mileage may vary.Clearly its more complicated, but the advantagesare much better sound, especially when the smallcamera cant be where the mic needs to be. Anotherway of using this technique is as an alternative to awireless mic, an option some videographers use is to

combine a lavalier microphone and a portabledigital recorder that the speaker either wears orcarries with them. In some ways this is moreversatile than using a wireless and less prone tointerference, though you are unable to monitor theaudio while youre recording. Later in post you syncthe audio recorded with the portable recorder withyour video, which is easy to do with most NLEs.eres no need for the old fashioned clapper board,as long as youre still recording sound on thecamera, you have a guide to easily synchronize theaudio. Find a click, pop, or T sound to match the

camera audio with the audio recorded on the digitalrecorder, and youll be able to easily synchronizethem with within your NLE.

35. Inexpensive shotguns for consumercamcorders

Little shotguns (e.g. Sennheiser MKE300, RodeVideoMic, Sennheiser MKE400, Azden ECZ-990)offer improvement over the built-in microphone onconsumer camcorders, but the problem remains,on-camera placement is not a good mic positionunless youre shooting with a very wide lens andyour speakers are close to the camera. Windy daysstill call for a windshield (a.k.a. windjammer ordead cat) either home made (from artificial fur w/foam interior) or store bought, available from Rode,Lightwave, Rycote, and others.

36. Connecting professionalmicrophones to consumer camcorders

A range of Beachtek adapters are available startingaround $180. Some models even provide phantompower for pro microphones that need phantom

powering (many pro models dont have built-inbattery powered power supplies). ese adaptersprovide attenuation, convert balanced tounbalanced, and filter out the plug-in power onmany cameras. e use of balanced cables will allowlonger cable runs without noise problems. Topreserve the advantages of balanced cables, you needto use the right adapter. Why all the hoo-la-la overXLR mic cables and professional microphones? First



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application for recording and editing sound forMac, Windows, and Linux.e Levelatoris a utilitythat will automatically adjust audio levels withinyour audio file for variations from one speaker tothe next. When youre working in quick and dirtymode, this will save you hours of work.

41. Audio compression (1 of 2)Adding compression judiciously to dialog canincrease loudness of dialog in the mix to bettermaintain consistent attention from the viewer/listener over sound effects and music. Compressionis used to increase the clarity of dialog so it sits inthe mix with music and sound effects better andtherefore maintains consistent attention from theviewer/listener.e amount of gain reduction isdetermined by a ratio. e point at which it kicks inis known as the threshold. e time it takes for thecompressor to respond to changes in input level isthe attack. How quickly the compressor returns tono gain reduction once the input level falls belowthe threshold is known as the release. For example,with a ratio of 4:1, when the input level is 4 dB overthe threshold, the output signal level will be 1 dBover the threshold. e gain (level) has beenreduced by 3 dB. When the input level is 8 dBabove the threshold, the output level will be 2 dB; a6 dB gain reduction. A limiter is a compressor witha higher ratio, and generally a fast attack time. Aratio of 10:1 or more is considered limiting. Soft

and hard limiting are a matter of degree:

eharder a limiter, the higher its ratio and the fasterits attack and release times. A related processingtechnique is Automatic Gain Control (AGC), itreduces the gain as the average signal level increases,tends to make the quiet passages louder and theloud passages quieter, reducing the dynamic rangeand quality of the recording.

42. Audio compression (2 of 2)

Experiment with compression ratios. For dialog,usually 2:1 is good, 3:1 better in some

circumstances, and if you add something like 4:1 ormore, it usually starts to sound unnatural.Experiment and listen. A subtle fix is often betterthan a wholesale change. Your ears fatigue. Beforemaking final audio decisions, go do something else,then come back and listen again.

43. Questions? Need audio gear?

Contact me at: kino-eye.com/contact/ if you haveany questions about this presentation.

is document and associated files are availableonline at: kino-eye.com/reference/dvb/

Professional sound vendors (in the Boston area):

Talamas (Sales & Rentals) 617-928-0788talamas.com

The Camera Company(Sales) 781-769-0210cameraco.com

Rule (Rentals & Sales) 617-924-5599rule.com

An out-of-town source for professional equipment(online):

B&H (Sales) 800-859-5252bhphotovideo.com

Its good to shop locally with vendors that cater to

the professional community that can provide post-sales support and rental houses help professionalssolve problems every day.

Glossary

AAC-3. See Dolby Digital.Acoustics. e science of sound wave transmission.In general the term is used to refer to thecharacteristics of rooms, theaters, auditoriums, andstudios in terms of their design and audiocharacteristics.

AGC(Automatic Gain Control). A methodavailable on some audio recorders and the audiosection of video cameras in which audio levels areautomatically controlled. On quiet passages thecamera raises the gain (raising the noise floor), andon loud passages it will reduce the gain. You canhear this pumping of the gain in the sound track.In a pinch its acceptable to use AGC, however, setlevels manually whenever possible. If your cameraoffers a limiter option, that is often a better way to

deal with unexpected peaks. See ALC.ALC(Automatic Limiter Control). A circuitavailable on Panasonic DVX and HVX seriescameras. It starts attenuating incoming audio signalsaround -6 dB and then limits peaks to -4.5 dB.With ALC you still need to adjust the overall levelsmanually, since transitory peaks will still causedistortion, however, this is preferable to automaticmethods. See AGC.

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Ambient noise. e total sound in an environmentwhich is unique to that environment. Also knownas room tone. Plays an important role in makingseamless audio edits, which requires that thesilence between words and sentences containsambient noise that matches the environment inwhich the dialogue takes place.

Amplitude. e strength of an electronic signal asmeasure by the height of its waveform.

Analog. A signal that varies continuously in relationto some reference. In contrast, a digital signal variesin discreet steps.

Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC). A device usedto convert analog electrical signals (e.g. from amicrophone or analog mixer) to digital data thatrepresent the level and frequency informationcontained in the original analog signal.

Analog recording. A means of recording audio orvideo whereby the recorded signal is a physical

representation of the waveform of the originalsignal. VHS is an example of an analog videoformats. Whenever a copy is made of a recording inan analog format, the copy exhibits additionalartifacts not in the original.

Artifact. An audible effect caused by an error orlimitation in the system.

Attenuate. To reduce signal strength. SeeAttenuator.Attenuator. A device that reduces signal strength.For example, line levels need to be attenuated beforethey can be fed into a device that only acceptsmicrophone level signals, so you would use anattenuator in this situation.

Audible spectrum. Sound waves in the frequencyrange between 20 and 15,000 Hz that movethrough the atmosphere and produce an audiblesensation in the average human.

Audio Sweetening. See Sweetening.

B

Background. Term used to describe the ambience ina scene or to relative volume, put the cracking

sound in the background.Background music. See Non-diegesis musicBalanced signal. An audio circuit with 3 wires, twocarry the signal, and the third provides the ground.Compared to unbalanced circuit using a singlesignal wire and a ground, balanced signals are muchless susceptible to picking up interference.erefore, professional sound recording equipmentis usually designed to work with balanced wiring.

While XLRs are the most widely used connectorswith balanced wiring, a particular connector doesnot guarantee the existence of balanced wiring.Better camcorders provided balanced XLRconnectors for audio input.Bandwidth. e amount of information that can bepassed through a system at a given time. Typically,

the greater the bandwidth the better the audioquality, however, the compression techniques (ifany) used also influence this, since somecompression formats allow for a reduction ofbandwidth while maintaining very similar audioquality.Beat. A periodic variation of amplitude resultingfrom the addition of two frequencies that areslightly different.Beep. 1. A tone placed in a particular position on asound track in post-production in order to establisha sync point. e tone is used to align the audio

track with the picture for precise synchronization. Afool proof method that is often used as a backupeven when time code is being used. For example,your composer might give you audio tracks andplace a beep two seconds prior to the start of pictureso you can line up the music with your project. 2.Sound made by the Roadrunner.Bit. 1. A single element (1 or 0) of digitalrepresentation of information. 2. A minor role inwhich an actor may speak only a few lines of dialog.Also known as a bit part.Bit rate. e amount of data transported in a givenamount of time, usually defined in Mega (Million)bits per second (Mbps).Black box. A term used to describe a piece ofequipment dedicated to one specific function.Blip tone. See Beep.Boom. A pole used to extend a microphone abovethe subject or actor you want to record, permittingsync sound recording without interference with thesubject or actors movement. Boom poles areavailable in a range of lengths, materials (aluminumor super-light carbon fiber), and with or without

internal wiring.Box rental. A fee paid to a crew member forproviding their own equipment or other specializedgear for use in a production.Breakaway cable. See ENG Snake.Broadcast quality. An nebulous term used bymarketing people to describe their products.Bus. A network that combines the output of two ormore channels on a sound mixer.Byte. 8 bits. A common unit of digital information.



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e combination of 8 bits into 1 byte allows eachbyte to represent 256 possible values. (seeMegabyte, Gigabyte, Terabyte).

C

C-Stand. A versatile stand used to supportequipment on the set. Usually outfitted with a grip

head and a gobo arm. Can be used for hangingsound blankets or holding a Boom Baby (accessoryfor holding a boom pole that connects to a griphead mounted on a C-Stand or light stand). SeeGrip head, Gobo arm.

Capacitance. e ability of an electrical componentto store electrical charges. Condenser microphoneswork on the principle of capacitance.CBR. Constant Bit Rate. An audio compressiontechnique where the amount of compression doesnot change. For example, MP3 files can be either

Constant Bit Rate or Variable Bit Rate.CD (Compact Disc). A digitally encoded audiostorage format containing over an hour of musicdigitized with a sampling frequency of 44.1 KHzand a bit depth of 16 bits. e data is read fromtiny pits on the surface by a laser beam.CD quality. An nebulous term used by marketingpeople to describe audio products.Cinma vrit. In French, literally, cinema truth.A style of documentary filmmaking in which thefilmmaker captures real people in real situationswith spontaneous use of hand-held camera,

naturalistic sound recording, and with participationon the part of the filmmaker, for example, Chronicleof a Summer(1961, Jean Rouch & Edgar Morin,French title: Chronique dun t). Also called directcinema, however, direct cinema sometimes refers toa different style that was dominant in the UnitedStates in the 1960s and differed in terms of muchless filmmaker involvement, for example, Salesman(1968, Albert & David Maysles).Clapper board. See Slate.Click track. A prerecorded track of metronomicclicks used to ensure proper timing of music to be

recorded. Used in music scoring sessions.Clipping. When an input signal exceeds thecapability the equipment to reproduce the signal,clipping occurs. In an analog recording system theresults are audible distortion, however, in a digitalsystem you end up with incomprehensible noise.Compander. An audio device or software filter thatcompresses an input signal and expands the outputsignal in order to reduce noise.

Compression. 1. Audio: e reduction of a span ofthe greater amplitudes in an audio signal for thepurpose of limiting the reproduction of thoseparticular amplitudes with the effect of reducing thedifference between peak amplitudes and averageamplitudes, making the overall signal sound louderwhen some gain is added (since peaks will no longer

over modulate). 2: Data: A method for reducingthe bitrate of a digital representation of an audiosignal in order to reduce te storage requirements ofthe representation. Methods like MP3 involve theuse of psychoacoustic models to discard portions ofthe audio signal that people will not notice, butalways results in artifacts. For professional audiorecording, always work with uncompressed audiofile formats (e.g. WAV or AIF).Compression ratio. e ratio of the amount of datain the original video compared to the amount ofdata in the compressed video. e higher the ratio

the greater the compression.Condenser microphone. A microphone design inwhich sound causes the movement of a plate(diaphragm) in relation to a fixed backplate. ismovement causes a change in capacitance (electricalcharge) which is translated to voltage by anamplifier. erefore, condenser microphones requireelectrical power to operate. Microphones designedfor video production can usually be powered usingphantom power from a camera or mixer. Somecondenser microphones have an onboard powersupply and thus require the use of a battery.Crossfade. e gradual mix of an incoming andoutgoing sound. Typically a software effect thatsimulates the simultaneous manipulation of two ormore mix console faders or a simple transition effectin an editing system. With non-linear editingCrossover. e frequency at which an audio signalis split in order to feed separate parts of aloudspeaker system.Crosstalk. is is the amount of audio signal bleedbetween channels measured as separation (in dB)between the desired sounds of one channel and the

unwanted sounds from the other channel.Cueing. A term with a broad range of usesmeanings depending on the context. For Voice-Over Narration or Dialogue Replacement, themarking of the cue point in a way which will permita signal to be given to the talent to begin eachelement of dialog at the appropriate time. Ingeneral, any system used by a person to signalanother person that recording should begin.



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D

DAW(Digital Audio Workstation). A computer-based rsystem used for recording, editing,processing, and mixing sounds. Originally referredto expensive workstation-based systems, today manysoftware-based DAWs are available that run oncommon hardware including Pro Tools, Soundtrack

Pro, and Digital Performer.Dead cat. See Windshield.Dead spot. An area within a location in whichsound waves are canceled by reflections arriving outof phase with the desired signal thus creating anarea of reduced audibility.Decoder. A device or software component thatreads a signal and turns it into some form of usableinformation. For example, an MP3 decoder takesaudio that was compressed with an MP3 encoderand converts it to sound data that can be playedback on a computer or iPod.e same goes for H.

264 video.Dialogue. Synchronous speech in a film with thespeaker usually, but not always, visible.Decibel (dB). A unit used to describe sound levels.e decibel quantifies sound levels relative to some0 dB reference. e reference level is typically setone of several ways: 1. when referring to soundpressure levels (SPL) the reference is set to thethreshold of perception of an average human; 2. Indigital recording, you set the level in a recordingsystem relative to as 0 dBfs where fs refers to fullscale, or the strongest signal that can be recordedwithout distortion, digital level meters read innegative numbers from left to right like -20dB,-12dB, -6dB, -3dB, 0dB; 3. when adjusting audiolevels in audio clips in a non-linear editing system,typically 0dB for each clip is the normal level andyou go plus or minus in terms of dB in order tomake the clip softer or louder. Decibels are actuallyratios. e ratio of the sound pressure at thethreshold of hearing to the limit that ears can hearwithout harm is above a million. Because the powerin a sound wave is proportional to the square of the

pressure, the ratio of the maximum power to theminimum power is above one trillion. To deal withsuch a range of numbers, logarithmic units areuseful: the log of a trillion is 12, so this ratiorepresents a difference of 120 dB. Its easier to dealwith numbers between 0 dB and 120 dB to talkabout the dynamic range of sound rather than atrillion. We typically work with sound adjustmentsin 3dB (tiny change) and 6 dB (noticeable change)

increments. Even though an increase of 3 dBrepresents a doubling of the intensity of the sound,we dont perceive it that way. Perception studieshave shown that a 3 dB change in sound level isbarely noticeable. Most listeners dont report asignificant change unless its 6 dB and it requires abig change of 10 dB before the average listener hears

a doubling of the sound.Dialogue track. A sound track which contains syncdialog. Typically while editing dialog tracks are keptseparate so they can be processed differently fromambience, music, and sound effects tracks.Diegetic. Typically refers to the internal world ofthe story (the diegesis) that the charactersthemselves experience and encounter includingthose not actually shown on the screen but referredto in some way within the story.us, filmelements can be diegetic or non-diegetic. eterm is most often used in reference to sound, but

can apply to other element in a film. For example,titles, subtitles, background music, and voice-overnarration (with exceptions) are non-diegeticelements.Diegetic music. Music from a source within thefilm scene, such as a live orchestra or a radioplaying. See Non-diegetic music.Diegetic sound. Sound originating from a sourceapparent within a film scene.Diegesis. See diegetic.Digital. A representation format in which data istranslated into a series of ones and zeros. Numericaldata (base 10) is translated into binary numbers(base 2). Symbolic data is translated according tocodes (for example, the ASCII code system assignsbinary numbers to characters so they can beencoded digitally). Audio and images are sampled.See also sample, sampling rate.Digital recording. A method of recording video (oraudio) in which samples of the original analogsignal are encoded on tape or a file as binaryinformation for storage and retrieval. Unlike analogrecordings, digital video (or audio) can be copied

repeatedly without degradation. Digital recordinghas pretty much replaced analog recordingtechniques for most image and sound applications.

Digitizing. e act of taking analog audio andconverting it to digital form. e term is often usedsynonymously with ingest or capture, which is theprocess of transferring a digital audio format into anon-linear editing system (its already digital, so youare simply capturing or ingesting, youre not



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actually digitizing). See capture.Dimmer. A device using to reduce the voltage inorder to dim incandescent lamps which causeselectromagnetic interference, often with the effect ofannoying the sound recordist. See filament buzz. 2.A function of some HMI and fluorescent lightingballasts that allow them to be dimmed (they cant be

dimmed with a standard dimmer).Directional characteristic. e variation in responseat different angles of sound incidence.Distortion. e addition of artifacts to the originalaudio signal appearing in the output which was notpresent in the input.Dolby Digital. 1. A multi-channel audio formatthat is standard for DVD, Blu-ray, and HDTVbroadcast. Consists of five channels (left, center,right, left surround, right surround), and one low-frequency effects (subwoofer) channel, thus thedesignation, 5.1. Widely used on professional DVD

movie releases. Also known as AC-3. 2. A similarcinema sound system that encodes the digitalinformation between the sprocket holes of a 35mmprint.

Dolby Stereo. 1. e analog predecessor to DolbyDigital. Widely used on professional VHS andDVD movie releases (on the analog stereo tracks).In post production a Dolby Stereo encoder left,center, right, and surround channels into a stereotrack that is compatible with stereo equipment, butwhen passed through a Dolby Stereo Decoder

results in left, center, right, and surround channels.See Dolby Digital. 2. A similar cinema soundsystem that replaces the traditional optical trackwith a Dolby encoded optical track.Double-system sound. e technique of recordingsound and image using separate recording devices.In film production this is the normal methodologysince film camera cant record sound, however, it issometimes used in video as well when mobility isrequired by the sound recordist who may want toavoid running wires to feed the video camera withthe audio signal.

Dub. 1. A verb describing the action of makingcopy of an audio recording. 2. A noun describing acopy of an audio recording. 3. e looping process.Dubbing. Adding sound to a film after shots havebeen photographed and edited. Also, to insertforeign language dialogue into a film after it hasbeen shot.Dynamic range. e difference in decibels between

the loudest and quietest portions of audio that asystem is capable of processing.

E

Echo. A sound wave that has been reflected andreturned with sufficient magnitude and delay as tobe perceived as a wave distinct from the wave that

was initially transmitted.Effective output level. e sensitivity rating of amicrophone defined as the ratio in dB of the poweravailable relative to sound pressure.ENG (Electronic News Gathering). Designatesequipment designed for portable field use, typicallyfor the purpose of video journalism.ENG snake. A cable designed to connect the outputof a field mixer to a video camera. It usuallyincludes two channels of balanced audio, aheadphone return, and a quick release connector onthe camera end (thus its also know as a breakawaycable) in order to allow the camera to moveindependent of the cable when needed.Envelope. e shape of the graph as amplitude isplotted against time. e envelope of a soundincludes the attack, decay, sustain and release.Environmental sound. General sounds at a lowvolume level coming from the action of a filmwhich can be either synchronous or non-synchronous.Equalization. e modification of specific ranges ofsound frequencies for a specific purpose, e.g. to

improving the clarity of speech or removing afrequency range with unwanted noise.

F

Filament buzz. Some incandescent lamps will buzzwhen the voltage is lowered using a dimmer. A greatannoyance to sound recordists. See Dimmer.Fluorescent lighting. A gas-discharge lamp andballast used to illuminate sets and to create noise inorder to annoy sound recordists.Foley. Creating sound effects by watching thepicture and mimicking the action, often with props

that do not exactly match the action but soundgood. For example, walking on a bed of crushedstones in order to simulate walking on the ground.Foreground music. See diegetic music.Frame line. e line that designates the top of theframe. When using a boom microphone, the boomoperator communicates with the camera operator tounderstand where the frame line is in order to avoidgetting the boom in the shot.



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Frequency. e number of times a signal vibratesper second. Expressed in Hertz (Hz), which is thenumber of cycles per second.Frequency response. e sensitivity of a givenmicrophone or sound recording and playbacksystem in terms of frequency and a variation, e.g. 20to 15,000 Hz +/- 3 dB.

G

Gain. 1. In video, an adjustment in the voltage ofthe video signal expressed in decibels (dB). Whenits increased, the image is brighter, along with morevisible noise; 2. In audio, how much the inputsignal level is increased, expressed in decibels (dB);3. In audio post-production, how much the audiosignal of a clip or audio track is adjusted, expressedin decibels (dB).Gigabyte. 1 Billion bytes.Grip arm. See Gobo arm.Gobo arm. A grip head mounted on the end of a diameter, 30 long arm used as a device forholding sound blankets and other quipment. SeeGrip head, C-Stand.Gobo head. See Grip head.Grip head. A fully rotatable, adjustable clampusually mounted on the top of a C-Stand and usedto support a Gobo arm, equipment, or a soundblanket. Its core component is a gobo head, whichaccepts the pin on a flag or a -in. gobo arm. SeeGobo arm, C-Stand.

H

Hard disk. An electro-mechanical data storagedevice with internal spinning disks. Used for storingvideo, audio, sound effects, documents, mediaarchives for back up.Harmonic distortion. Audio distortioncharacterized by undesirable changes between inputand output at a given frequency.Hertz (Hz). A unit for specifying the frequency of asignal, formerly called cycles per second (cps).High-pass filter. An electronic or software audio

filter used to attenuate all frequencies below achosen frequency, thus the name, high pass.Hiss. Noise that is caused by normal imperfectionsin the surface of analog recording tape. Also knownas asperity noise (literally, roughness noise).

I

Impedance. As long as you stick with microphonesand mixers designed for video production, you will

not have to worry about impedance matching. enominal load impedance for a microphone indicatesthe optimum matching load which utilizes themicrophones characteristics to the fullest extent.Impedance is a combination of DC resistance,inductance and capacitance, which act as resistancesin AC circuits. An inductive impedance increases

with frequency; a capacitance impedance decreaseswith frequency. Either type introduces a change inphase.Import. e process of transferring digital audiofiles from the storage media used by a recordingdevice into a non-linear editing system. See alsoCapture.Inductance. e resistance of a coil of wire torapidly fluctuating currents which increases withfrequency.Intermodulation distortion. An amplitude changein which the harmonics (sum and difference tones)

are present in the recorded signal.Inverse square law. Sound from a point source fallsoff inversely to the square of the distance. Or, putanother way, if you double the sound source tomicrophone distance, you end up with only a 1/4thof the original sound energy.

J

Jet. 1. An type of aircraft that sometimes flies overthe set in order to provide interesting soundproblems. 2. To leave the set quickly after the shoot.

K

Kilobyte. One thousand bytes. Actually 1,024 bytesbecause computer storage is measured using base 2(binary) number system with each digits valuebased on a power of 2 (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128,256, 512, 1,024) rather than base 10 based onpowers of 10 (1, 10, 100, 1,000) which is oureveryday number system.

L

Lavalier (Lav). A small microphone designed to

work attached to the subjects chest or placed nearthe neck. e can be placed over or under clothing.Because of their small size, when combined with awireless system, they are excellent for shootingwalking and talking subjects. Dont forget to pairthem with a lavalier windscreen on a windy day.Layback. Transfer of the finished audio mix backonto the edit master.Level. e ratio of an acoustic quantity to a



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reference quantity, usually a measurement of audiosignal amplitude in decibels (dB).L-Cut. An edit in which the in (or out) points ofthe video and audio are different. is is often doneto have audio lead the video, in other words, youhear some one start to talk before you see them.Lip sync. Dialogue or narration that is precisely

synchronized with the lip movements of a characteror narrator on the screen. See Synchronization.Location shooting. Filming in an actual settingwith all sorts of noise problems, either outdoors orindoors, rather than in a quiet, controlled motionpicture studio.Looping. e process of having actors dub lip-syncsound to scenes which have already beenphotographed. Also called ADR for automateddialog replacement or additional dialog recording.Called looping because in the old days a film loopof the scene would be put on the projector with cue

marks on the film so the director and actor couldsee the scene while they were looping and multipletakes would be recorded.Lowpass filter. A filter that attenuates frequenciesabove a specified frequency and allows those belowthat point to pass.

M

Masking. A phenomenon whereby one or moresounds tricks the ear into not hearing other,weaker, sound that is also present.

MB. Acronym for Megabytes; the equivalent of1,024 bytes.ME track(Music and Effects track). Refers to themusic and effects tracks split apart from thedialogue tracks for use in dubbing (foreign languagere-recording of a film or video).Megabyte. 1 million bytes.Mickey mousing. Creating music that mimics orreproduces a films visual action, as, for example, inmany Walt Disney cartoons.Mini connector. 1. A 1/8 TRS connector that istypically used for connecting headphones to

cameras and mixers, however, some mixers have a1/4 TRS headphones connector, so its alwaysgood to have an adapter in your kit; 2. Someconsumer cameras used a 1/8 TRS connector formicrophone input. Sometimes these inputs provide5V plug-in power, the consumer equivalent ofphantom power.Mix. To combine sound from two or more sourcesonto a single sound track. Also called sound mixing.

Mixer. See Sound mixer.Monologue. A character speaking alone on screenor, without appearing to speak, articulating her orhis thoughts in voice-over as an interior monologue.MOS. Shooting image without recording sound.Lots of colorful stories have evolved in an attemptto explain the origin of this curious term: one story

suggests that a famous Hollywood director fromGermany used to say mitt-out-sound while otherexplanations are technically oriented, suggesting itmeans minus optical stripe (since some old soundrecording systems recorded the audio signal as visualvariations on light sensitive film), or it could simplymean motion omit sound, but no one reallyknows the origin of this term.M-S (Mid-Side). A stereo microphone technique inwhich two microphone elements (a middle elementwith a cardioid or hyper-cardioid pattern and a sideelement with a bidirectional pattern) are

incorporated into a special configuration forrecording. Offers the advantage over othertechniques in that it offers excellent monocompatibility without phase cancellation issues.Musical. A film genre that incorporates song anddance routines into the film story. Also calledmusical film.

N

Narration. Information or commentary spokendirectly to the audience rather than indirectly

through dialogue, often by an anonymous voice ofgod off-screen voice. See voice-over..Noise. 1. Electrical interference or other unwantedsound introduced into an audio system (i.e. hiss,hum, rumble, crosstalk, etc.)Non-diegetic music. Music in a film which doesnot have an apparent source within story world.Often called background music. See diegesis.Non-diegetic sound. Sound in a film which doesnot have an apparent source within story world. Seediegesis.Non-linear editor(NLE). A video editing system

characterized by digital storage and random access.Final Cut, Avid, Premiere Pro, Vegas, and eveniMovie are examples of non-linear editors.Non-synchronous sound. Sound whose source isnot apparent in a film scene or which is detachedfrom its source in the scene; commonly called off-screen sound. See synchronous sound. .



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O

Octave. e interval between two sounds having abasic frequency ratio of 2 to 1.Off-screen sound. See non-synchronous sound.Over-modulation. Feeding a sound signal with anintensity greater than the levels a system is designedto accept. Digital systems cant tolerate over-

modulation, when your audio is too loud it willsound like raspy unintelligible noise. Avoid over-modulating audio just like you avoid over-exposingvideo.

P

Petabyte. 1,000 Terabytes, or 1 million Gigabytes.Today Terabyte drives are common, somedayPhase. e timing relationship between two signals.Phase shift. e displacement of a waveform intime. When various frequencies are displaceddifferently, distortion occurs. Cancellation of thesignal may occur when two equal signals are out ofphase.Pitch. e frequency of audible sound.Phantom power. A method of powering thepreamplifier in condenser microphones by sendingthe voltage through the audio cable in a mannerthat does not interfere with the audio signal. Mostprofessional cameras and mixers provide the optionof supplying +48V phantom power to microphones.Phono plug. See RCA connector.Pick-up pattern. A polar diagram showing how a

microphone responds to sounds from variousdirections. Usually these diagrams also show howdirectionality varies based on the frequency of thesound. Common patterns include: omnidirectional,cardioid, hyper-cardioid, super-cardioid, andshotgun (lobar).Pink noise. An audio test signal that has an equalamount of energy per octave or fraction of anoctave.Playback. A technique of filming music action thatinvolves playing the music through loudspeakerswhile performers sing, dance, play instruments, etc.

Post-production. e phase in a project that takesplace after the production phase, or after theproduction. Included in post-production is pictureediting, sound editing, scoring, sound effectsediting, sound design, motion graphics, titles, colorcorrection, sound mix, mastering, etc.Post-synchronized sound. Sound added to imagesafter they have been photographed and assembled;commonly called dubbing.

Production value. A nebulous term used to describethe visual quality or professional look of a movie. Asignificant component of production value is thequality of the sound.Production sound. e activity of recording and/ormixing sound on location during a shoot. Typicallyrecorded to dedicated digital recorder (double

system) or directly to the video camera (singlesystem). See Single system, Double system.

R

RCA connector. A common connector used as avideo or audio interconnect. Typically color codedas yellow for video, white for audio channel 1 (left),and red for audio channel 2 (right). In most cases,cables with RCA connectors are interchangeable.Some consumer equipment uses RCA connectorsfor analog component video. Also known as aphono plug.Reverberation. e presence of additional sound ina recording due to repeated reflections from walls,ceilings, floors, objects, etc. Reverberation isimpossible to eliminate in post-production. SeeSound blankets.Room tone. See Ambient noise.Run and gun. A style of video and audioproduction that is fast, unpredictable, and ofteninvolves covering action in multiple locations in ashort amount of time. A great deal of documentaryand broadcast journalism is done in this manner.

S

Sampling frequency. e number of samplemeasurements taken from an analog signal in agiven period of time. ese samples are thenconverted into numerical values stored in bytes tocreate the digital signal.Score. Original music composed specifically for afilm and usually recorded after the film has beenedited.Selective sound. A sound track that selectivelyincludes or deletes specific sounds.

Shotgun. e term used to describe an interferencetube (thus the name) microphone with a lobar-super-cardioid pickup pattern. Typically used forrecording dialog outdoors and in environments withhigh ambient noise levels due to their rejection ofoff-axis sounds. For recording dialog in quietsetting, hyper-cardoid microphones provide bettersound, since interference tubes not only reject offaxis sounds, but also colors these sounds.



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Sibilance. Exaggerated hissing in voice patterns.Signal. e variation over time of a wave wherebyinformation is conveyed in some form which couldbe acoustic information (vibrations in air) orelectronic voltages (representing sound).Signal to noise ratio(S/N).e ratio of the desiredsignal to unwanted noise in an audio or video

recording system.Single system sound. A method of recording soundand picture on the same device, typically this is theway its done in video production. See doublesystem sound.Slate. 1. A device used to place an identifier in frontof the camera at the beginning of a take. Whenshooting double system sound, the clapping motionand the clapping sound is used to synchronize theaudio to the picture in post production. 2. A goodroofing material that can last well over a hundredyears and will never become part of the landfill

problem.Snake. 1. A multi-channel audio cable intended foruse with microphone and/or line level signals. SeeENG snake. 2. Producers who dont treat their crewhonestly and with respect.Sound effect. A recorded or electronically processedsound that matches the visual action taking placeonscreen in some interesting, creative manner.Sound mixer. 1. A device for taking multiple soundinputs and routing them to (typically) a stereooutput bus. May include signal processing features

like a limiter. 2. Another term for sound recordist.See Sound recordist.Sound bridge. Sound which continues across twoshots that depict action in different times or places,thus providing an audio transition between the twoscenes.Sound designer. A sound specialist responsible forthe development of all sound materials in a film andultimately in charge of the entire sound production.Sound effects(SFX). Any sound in a film thats notdialogue, narration, or music.Sound recordist. e person responsible for

recording sound on location, they determine theright microphones to use and how to place them.ey sometimes work in conjunction with a boomoperator, on smaller productions the soundrecordist and boom operator are one.Soundtrack. 1. e music contained in a film. 2.e entire audio portion of a film, including dialog,effects, and ambience.Source music. See background music.

Speed of sound. Sound travels through air at about770 miles per hour, which varies depending onambient temperature and air pressure.Spotting. In scoring and sound effects editing theprocess of spotting is used to identify the specificscenes or points where music cues or effects cuestake place.

Standing waves. A deep sound in a small roomcaused by low frequency (long waves) with shortreflection patterns.Stereo sound. Sound recorded on separate trackswith two or more microphones and played back ontwo or more loud speakers to reproduce andseparate sounds more realistically.Synchronization. A precise match between imageand sound. Also called sync.Synchronous sound (sync sound). 1. Recordingsound in synchronization with recording image.Can be single or double system. In single system

sound recording the camera records sound andimage, with double system sound recording, thecamera is used to record images and a separatesound recorder is used to record sound. 2. Soundwhose source is apparent and matches the action ina scene. See non-synchronous sound.Sweetening. Enhancing the sound of a recording orparticular sound effect with equalization or othersignal processing techniques.

T

Temp dub. A preliminary mixing of dialogue,music, and sound effects, usually so that a first cutmay be viewed with all the elements incorporated.Terabyte. One trillion bytes. Equivalent to aheaping amount of video or an insane amount ofaudio.

U

Underscore. Music that provides atmospheric oremotional background to the primary narration ordialog.

VVBR. Variable Bit Rate. A video compressionmethod in which the amount of compression isvaried to allow for minimum degradation of imagequality in scenes that are more difficult to compress.For example, when encoding MP3 audio, you canchoose to encode it as VBR or CBR. See Constantbit rate.

Voice-over. 1. A narrators voice accompanying



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images on the screen. 2. Any off-screen voice.VU meter. A meter designed to measure analogaudio level in volume units which generallycorrespond to perceived loudness. e meters donot show peaks, peaks are typically indicated with aseparate peak light. Still found on professionalanalog recorders and some consumer gear trying to

look impressive. Digital meters behave in a totallydifferent manner.

W

Walla. Background ambience or noises added tocreate the illusion of sound taking place outside ofthe main action in a picture.

Wave. A regular variation in signal level or soundpressure level.

White noise. A signal having an equal amount ofenergy per Hertz.

Windshield. A device placed over a microphonethat reduces the effect of wind noise on themicrophone.ere are two main types ofwindshields, modular systems and integral slip-onsystems. A a modular system (often called a blimpor zeppelin) consists of a flexible grey plastic nettingtube (thus the name) with a screening material anda suspension system for the microphone (e.g. RycoteModular Windshield). A furry synthetic fur cover,often called a windjammer, can be placed over thezeppelin for additional wind noise attenuation. Indocumentary and ENG applications one-piece slip

on windshields consisting of a cellular foam basesurrounded by synthetic fur are quite popular (e.g.Rycote Softie Windshield). e foam wind screenthat comes with most microphones is only good toprevent wind noise due to movement of themicrophone, outdoor shooting requires awindshield. Furry slip on systems or windjammersare sometimes called a dead cat. Some folks refer toa blimps windjammer attachment as a Wookie sincethey are typically larger than dead cats.

Windjammer. See Windshield.Wild sound. Audio elements that are not recorded

synchronously with the picture. Its a good idea torecord wild sound wherever you go. ese wildtracks of the environment can be used to buildambient sound beds or fix audio problems in dialogwhen you need to fill gaps of empty track.

X, Y, Z

X-Y Pattern. A pair of cardioid microphones orelements aimed in crossed directions which feed two

channels for stereo pickup.XLR. A widely used connector for soundapplications typically having three conductors (butcan also have more, e.g. five for a stereo connection)plus an outer shell which shields the connectors andlocks it in place. e connectors are either malewith pins or female with sockets. Microphones and

mixer outputs have male connectors; mixer inputsand camera inputs have female sockets.Zeppelin. See Windshield.

Acknowledgements

Im more of an image person, Im not really a soundperson, however, Ive had to learn how to do soundfor my own productions. I would like to thankPhilip Perkins, G. John Garrett, Bill Shamlian, PeterRea and Alex Griswold, five audio professionalsfrom whom Ive learned about audio recording andpost over the years. Any wisdom in this area I oweto them, any bad habits are strictly my own.

Colophon

is document was produced on a MacBook Prousing Pages (part of Apples iWork suite) and set inAdobe Garamond and Interstate. Music listened towhile writing included the oeuvres ofe TalkingHeads, Brian Eno, Philip Glass,e NevilleBrothers, Tangerine Dream, Blonde Redhead,Pylon, e Human League, R.E.M., Erik Satie, eB-52s,e Pretenders, and Spoon.

Copyright notice and disclaimers

2009 by David Tams, Some Rights Reserved. is work isprovided under the terms of a Creative CommonsAttribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License, a copyof which may be found at: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/is essentially means you can use these materialsand share them as long as you provide attribution and share

what you create with the same license. Any trademarksmentioned in this document belong to their respective owners.Photos credited as being from various product manufacturers(for which they may retain copyright) are used under guidelinesof fair use.

Suggested acknowledgment in compliance with the CreativeCommons license is:

Based on Sound Presentation Notes by David Tamsavailable at kino-eye.com/reference/dvb/

Disclaimer: Mention of specific products, vendors, books, websites, or techniques does not constitute an endorsement norprofessional recommendation.

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